National Historian Discovers Post-WWII Wing Commander Actually Escaped Nazi

By Colbalt Falcone

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — “I was, frankly, stunned,” says Colonel Noah Greenbrier, CAP National Historian. “The history of our organization is so well documented that even with serious digging you don’t expect to turn up anything new or interesting. And I was just going through and cataloging some files left by a predecessor.”

Col Greenbrier is speaking of the incredible discovery that Colonel John Flayder, a popular and successful Wisconsin Wing commander who served in the 50s and 60s, was actually escaped Nazi war criminal Standartenführer Johannes Fleder.

Col Greenbrier did additional digging after the initial find, locating a series of wing publications from the era that occasionally mentioned Flayder, and always in a positive light. “He came out of nowhere in the late 50s and really took the wing by storm. He was just an auto plant worker from Southern Wisconsin, but he seemed to have an intimate knowledge of staff organization and field operations.”

Flayder also impressed the members of his wing staff, says Col Greenbrier. “He was famous for his iron discipline and his uncanny attention to detail. He was able to spot the tiniest spelling error or word misuse in paperwork, and insisted that his staff get it absolutely right. Also, the guy was punctual as heck. Word was, Curtis Lemay learned how to be early from John Flayder.”

There are indications that Col Greenbrier isn’t the first to discover Flayder’s secret. “I became a aware of the colonel while going through papers left in a desk by a previous long-time national historian. There are hand-written notes on some of the documents that lead me to believe that he figured it out as well. I’m not sure why he wouldn’t have come forward with his suspicions.”

Among the papers that Col Green found were letters from Flayder to Headquarters recommending that the Cadet Program be revised and renamed the ‘Eaker Youth’. This request also has the first documented use of the name ‘Spaatzen’ to refer to the organization’s highest achievers.

Miles Smith, then a Cadet in Wisconsin Wing, remembers Col Flayder well, and with fond regard, despite the recent revelations of Flayder’s dark past. “He was a great leader, always friendly and patient. He took time to mentor Cadets.”

“This one time, at encampment, we all went to the base pool and we saw that he had a big swastika on his chest, but he said it was a tattoo of a maze he hadn’t gotten around to finishing,” Smith explained. “At the time it sounded reasonable, but now I can see that it was kind of crazy. Those were simpler days, and we were just cadets.”